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"She's high, she's tight, she pulls to the right, 416, 416! (Sing this in the manner of a football chant)

Based on the H&K416, one of my favourite AR's of all time, this fanatastic all rounder gets near top marks in so many departments without the usual trade off's, making this the perfect gun for so many occasions.

Great in close quarters due to its highly competitive rate of fire this gun truly excels when engaging at medium range. Excellent accuracy combined with a relatively predictable right hand pull means this weapon can be fired with great accuracy on burst fire (controlled automatic) in surprisingly long bursts considering its ROF. It retains a good degree of control even on sustained automatic fire with a little management.

Often compared to the ACE23, which many consider the best AR platform in the game, the M416 has a couple of distinct advantages dependent on your preference. The ACE23 doesn't make it into my list of favourite ARs for a couple of reasons. Firstly it feels loose and the recoil pattern pulls in both directions laterally. From the shooters perspective this means the front sight jumps around a lot. Now the ACE23's statistics show it is a very capable weapon however the 'jumpy front post' obscures my vision of targets at medium to long range and means I have to take an extra split second to confirm I've hit what I am aiming at.

Now contrast that with the much tighter feel you get with the M416 and the more predictable high right pull, which incidentally is far easier to mitigate. With the 416 I can see I have hit and dropped my target as I engage and this allows me to move swiftly on to the next target with minimal time wasted. I always feel that whilst the ACE23 undoubtedly will drop a couple of targets with ease at medium range due to its actual statistical performance, I can't run it fast enough, accurately enough. The 416 no the other hand allows me to drop 3-4 targets simply because I can acquire them faster. In an effort to describe this better all I can say is the M416 feels like it locks into the target better, the ACE23 whilst effective, feels loose, like it's poorly made and engineered.

Flexibility

I tend to run a Cobra + Magnifier with a stubby/potato grip and muzzle brake most of the time and have good success shooting out to long ranges on single shot and short bursts, the M416 is very accurate. However sometimes the situation calls for a little more magnification. On those occasion I will run the Acog with backup iron sights, heavy barrel and angled foregrip and again this gun is not found wanting. Good accuracy combined with excellent muzzle velocity means the M416 can do a workable job at DMR type ranges, with the advantage of a 30 round magazine and full auto capacity.

ROF

The M416 clocks in at about 770 rpm. That's competitive at close range without entering the 'bullet hose, omg I have to reload again' weapon class. Again ROF is important but too much can really limit an Assault Rifle's abilities. Having an insane ROF is fantastic for dropping one or two targets, but it usually comes at a cost. Firstly you will generally find that control is sacrificed due to recoil obviously. Following on from that you will also usually find that accuracy over range is compromised due to the 'spray' tendency. In addition that insane ROF that helps you in CQB also means you are burning through ammo at a rate of knots which means more reloads, potentially at critical times. High ROF weapons often have longer reload times to balance out their potential dominance in CQB. Leading us nicely onto....

Reloads

Another area the 416 excels is reload time. 1.85 seconds on a tactical reload, 2.4 seconds on a dry reload. Those are some of the fastest reloads in BF4, this is a gun designed for people who are working, not one or two kills, working a flag persistently. This is a functional precision weapon balanced to get the job done.

Quality

I think the Developer has done a great job conveying the 'quality' of the M416. An expensive weapon in RL with extremely tight tolerances and outstanding performance, this comes across in the feel of the gun for me. I rarely if ever find myself in a situation in game where I think "I wish I had picked a different AR, I wouldn't have died there if I had X rifle". The M416 can provide solutions for pretty much any scenario appropriate to the AR platform and this is why it is my preferred AR.

Summing up

The M416 is one of those great weapon platforms that is easy to pick up and do reasonably well with but has a decent learning curve to it, you can get better and better with it. It works well in almost all tactical scenarios and some tweaking with attachments can accentuate different strengths. This makes it one of the 'goto' weapons for me in it's category.

You know, for CQB I'm a big fan of the uncontrollable AEK971, for the DPS/ROF. Medium to close range stuff, I'm a huge ran of the SAR21, it has amazing stability even with full auto. My medium/long range is going to be the SCAR, simply because of the higher bullet damage, it's basically like a DMR in hardcore mode.

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Now that the AS-VAL is back in the game it feels like exactly what I presume it was designed to do, assassinate people. See target, left click. No need to use those fancy optics. One person will die at least, then you have to figure out how to reload before his buddies come.

Its limitations in accuracy and dreadfully slow velocity(only faster than a handful of pistols) means its longer range engagements techniques are challenging at best. My method of preference is to ignore shot placement on erratic targets at range and just throw a whole magazine at their general direction.

|TG-12th| Namebot

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I've been partial to the ACE 52 carbine, SCAR-H with a Prisma 3.4x or JGM 4x optic, or the ACW with Coyote sight and magnifier. The ACE and the SCAR hits pretty hard. I use the SCAR for long range engagements with the 4x optics and single fire. I found that a suppressor stabilizes the kick a little bit as well. It suffers at close range because of it's slower rate of fire though. It's deadly accurate too. The ACW has a pretty quick ROF. It took me a while to get used to the recoil and the ROF though. It became my main carbine for awhile.

I've also found success with the M16 and the M4. Some people don't like em because it's only burst and single fire. But I found that I could get pretty tight groupings with it's burst fire and recoil compensation with the mouse.

I've been dabbling in other weapons, just to mix it up a bit, but those are probably a handful of my mainstays that I find myself using frequently.

|TG|FullMetalDrummer

That one drummer guy who spins his hair and hits things with sticks

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I switch between the 3 based on desired play style more than map or purpose. My primary option is the M240. I have it equipped with bipod, compensator, HD-33, and magnifier. Since the sniper limit, I have retired the ACOG on this machine as I no longer feel the need to gun down snipers at extreme ranges. THe HD is a great open sight and when properly burped the 240 is accurate enough and hits hard enough to drop multiple foes from the standing or crouching position. As with most MGs, the 240 truly shines when prone and bipod deployed as it is heavier hitting than many of the faster firing LMG options, prone in choke points I feel it can truly change the tide of an engagement.

I break out the QBB-95 whenever I feel like a more run and gun style. While the 240 does well in all ranges, I feel the accuracy greatly suffers on the move. the QBB-95 does not seem to suffer as badly. I equip with folding grip, tri-beam, flash hider, and Prisma 3.4. If the squad I am is constantly on the move and changing types of engagements, I think this weapon provides the mobility of an assault rifle with the capacity of a LMG.

The 870MCS is what I like to use whenever I'm not playing support, which is rare, or whenever I want to shoot and chuckle a little with every kill. I equip with the ACOG, tri-beam,Slugs, and compensator. On HC settings this weapon is 1 shot kill. Especially satisfying winning a sniper duel versus a proper long rile. Not much else to say, this weapon has the range and killing power to snipe or use the laser and walk up and set down a room full of enemies. Sure the RoF is slow, but the point and click doom dispensed is worth it. I just find it funny in a world limiting sniper kits and endless opinions about DMR's, I can run around with this little bundle of joy.

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This may be unpopular, but after the DMR balance update, the MK11 quickly became my favorite gun. I've always played with accuracy in mind, I like to be precise, and this is the perfect gun for that role without going to a sniper rifle. I'm sitting above 37% accuracy with it. I use the JGM-4 scope along with canted iron sights for closer engagements. I use my trusty 1911 when going really close quarters.

With a heavy barrel, it has deadly accuracy as far out as a 4x scope is useful. It's great for clearing pesky snipers off roofs and towers. Just last night on Paracel there were 2 snipers up on the tower between A and B as my squad was fighting hard to hold B. I put 2 rounds up there, 2 headshots, no more snipers. It gets results.

It also annoys people with that awful sound, and when people complain about DMRs in chat I just smile and know it's doing its job.

When I'm not using the MK11, I'm probably using a SCAR-H as assault or PKP as support. Both have higher damage than others of the same type, which I prefer as I try to play with precision. After this thread, I started using the M416 as it was my favorite AR in BF3. I'm liking it again, I'll have to give it some more time to see if it will overtake the SCAR for me.

Honorable mention goes to my favorite carbine, the AK 5C. I've tried a few others, but haven't found anything that beats it for my use. With a suppressor, it's my go to gun for stealthy recon use getting those back flags.

I've been using the AK5c almost exclusively since the beta. Having access to it on all kits made it my go-to gun, and I haven't regretted it. Good in close quarter, and with a magnifier on it, can effectively reach out to decent ranges.

Besides my sniper rifle, I used this on all kits until about a month ago when I decided I'd try to unlock some different weapon classes. I started with the DMRs and started unlocking them with the RFB. I unlocked all the DMRs with it and haven't even bothered to try any other DMRs. It does its job, and with my acog and heavy barrel it's become one of my favourites.

Next was the assault rifles. I unlocked the L85 and have been using it more and more recently. It's a beast in cqb on burst mode, and I often switch between this and my ak5c depending on the situation/map. L85 for extreme close range, and ak5c when dealing with close and mid range targets.

I'm not one to experiment much with different guns. I stick with what I know and what I'm good with. I may have to try some of your suggestions and favourites and see if any replace my current favourites and become my go-to. With just shy of 4700 kills, they'll take some work to surpass my ak5c ;)

|TG-6th|CorpDuty

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I find myself swaping my loadouts a lot. Right now Im working on getting most of the ARs and Carbines to at least 100 kills, which should give me good basic knowledge of each. However, the AK 5C has been a staple on most my loadouts with Suppresor, Stubby and Cobra + Magnifier. The SCAR-H and the M11/SCAR-SV Im getting a lot of mileage out of too. Next in line for the Service Star are the L85, M416 and AUG; all of which Ive been enjoying a TON (specially the L85 and the AUG).

Its hard for me to choose one gun as my favourite since I havent really tried them all out, however the AK 5C has already shown its versatility and is the one to beat currenty (with the SCAR-H slowly creeping up on it)

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With 8 service stars, I'd say the SAR-21 is my favorite weapon. I usually try to engage from medium range, so it's slow ROF doesn't bother me as much. I just love the stability of it.

As engineer, I've been using the MK11 MOD 0. Again, since I usually try to engage at range, this suits me perfectly. It also gives me some anti-sniper defense.

For support, I've been going with the PKP PECHENEG. I'm not sure that I love it, but it's my highest K/Min gun, so it must be doing something right.

3) Support game play in a near-simulation environment. Where the focus of play would not be solely on doing what it takes to win, but doing so utilizing real-world combat strategy and tactics rather than leveraging exploits provided to players by the design of the game engine.

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Personally I find it hard to pick a favourite weapon as I tend to change based on situation. Looking through my stats there isn't really one that stands out much either. I seem to have 12-13% accuracy on pretty much all of the guns, higher on the DMR's and bolt action (which I don't use much).

The 3 that stand out in my mind as goto weapons though are the L85A2, the MK11 and the Ace 52 CQB. With either of these platforms there is no situation that I feel uncomfortable in. The ROF on the L85 lets me work CQB well and yet reach out and touch those in the distance. It is currently outfitted with a Coyote scope, 2x magnifier, heavy barrel and potatoe grip. I will change to a suppresor in some situations and find that it works equally as well. The recoil on it is a little harder to get used to than some other AR's, but once you do it is a beast of a gun. The MK11 is setup with an Acog, Iron sights, heavy barrel and angled grip. I have played around with a few of the other DMR's and while I like the Scar-H-sv and the Ace 53-sv the comfort factor isn't there yet with them. I found the Ace 52 CQB a little tough to control at first and still at times find myself forgetting to tap fire and wonder why I'm not hitting anything. It is usually set up with a Coyote sight, 2x magnifier, heavy barrel and angled grip. When playing a CQB map I will change out the heavy barrel for a suppressor. I find that these 3 weapons will get me through all the current maps. I am not a great sniper and haven't unlocked past the second bolt action at this point. Same goes for the shotguns (thank you Premium!) I do really like using the RGO impact grenades, being able to bank shot them and predict where they will explode is alot of fun - useful too.

I'm looking forward to trying the guns that have been mentioned so far and seeing if they offer something that I may have passed by.

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Heads up for those who like the L85 (I seriously thought I was the only one since I rarelly get killed by it), the RPM were lowered to 750 which puts it on par with the M416 on pretty much all accounts other than being a bullpup (which means better hipfire, worse standing still ADS and worse reload times)

EDIT: Theres also the change they did to the bullpups while ADS on 1x scopes.. But I have no idea what that change did and couldnt figure it out while on the TEST Range. If anyone has found any accurate info on that change can you share?

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I'm a bit of a stat nut, so a lot of my gun choices are affected by what Symthic.com has to say about them. I also tend to favor guns with high damage over guns with high rates of fire, so my choices reflect that. Some of my favorite guns by category:

PDWs (I don't use these very often; I think Carbines are generally better)
- UMP-45

LMGs
- M240B
- I sometimes use the MG4 on small maps like Locker - it's fun to hipfire

Sniper Rifles
- GOL Magnum (good statistically; boring visually)

Carbines
- ACE 52 CQB

Shotguns (don't use these very often)
- M1014 with Flechettes

DMRs
- Usually the M39 EMR
- Beginning to use the QBU-88

Pistols
- Compact 45

My favorite weapon overall is probably the M240B. The thing looks and sounds butch. With the Heavy Barrel it's quite accurate, although the recoil will have you dragging your mouse off your desk in no time. Firing in bursts mitigates the problem, while the gun's big 7.62x51mm rounds will make those bursts count.